domingo, 27 de abril de 2014

LEICA T-SYSTEM: A GREAT MOVE BY WETZLAR PHOTOGRAPHIC FIRM

Leica has just
presented its new Leica T (Typ 701) camera, with which it starts the third
system of CSC mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses throughout its history and the first digital
one in APS-C format and featuring AF.

The huge
experience of Leica in the scope of mirrorless compact system cameras which it began 83 years ago between 1931 and 1932 with the screwmount and
interchangeable lenses Leica 1 (Model C Standard Mount), Leica Standard (Model
D) and Leica II (Model D) along with the amazing know-how acquired after its
full transformation, integration and consolidation as a photographic firm at
the forefront of the digital sector (a great success accomplished by Andreas
Kaufmann, who took the reins in 2005 and had the insight and
historical perspective of foreseeing its great future), have brought about the
genesis of a further very small camera:

The Leica T (Typ
701) with which thanks to its new bayonet, its huge capacitive and intuitive
3.7 inch iPhone style touchscreen (occupying the whole back area of the camera)
boasting great viewing quality and response optimization, its top-notch Sony CMOS
APS-C 16.3 megapixel sensor, its new image DSP and manufacture parameters
following the track of the golden analogue period of Leitz Wetzlar (Germany)
and Midland (Ontario, Canada) during Twentieth Century, Leica has become on its
own merit already in XXI century the currently most versatile digital concern
in the world, with nothing less than three different reference-class photographic systems:
the 24 x 36 mm format Leica M mirrorless system with rangefinder embodied by the Leicas
M9, M9-P, M9 Titanium, M (Typ 240) and M Monochrom, the medium format reflex
system Leica S2 and the just born Leica T-System with its smart new bayonet
that highly probably will mark a turning point in the sphere of APS-C
mirrorless cameras without rangefinder.

THE ARRIVAL OF A
CRAVED PRODUCT

The appearance
between 2012 and 2014 of excellent CSC mirrorless and rangefinderless
professional cameras made by a number of firms highly respected by Leica
featuring very good interchangeable lenses and last generation digital
sensors in APS-C (Fuji X-Pro 1, Fuji
X-T1, Sony Nex-6, Sony Nex-7, Samsung NX300, Samsung NX30) and Micro Four
Thirds (Olympus OM-D E-M1, Panasonic Lumix GH-3, Panasonic Lumix GH-4) formats has made
possible the strengthening of a technologically very interesting domain of
digital cameras and thereby the fulfillment within the digital era of a dream
whose pioneers were during the analog epoch Oskar Barnack, Adam Wagner, Yoshihisa
Maitani, Walter Mandler and Günther Leitz: the making of very little cameras
sporting a smaller than 35 mm captor, an assortment of great quality
interchangeable lenses and that enabled to do praiseworthy enlargements on
photographic paper with no image degradation up to sizes of 50 x 70 cm and even
larger.But it couldn´t be implemented during XX Century because of the
limitations inherent to the surface of chemical negative reduced a 50% in size of half frame mirrorless cameras featuring 18 x 24 mm analog captor like the Leica 72, made between 1954 and 1957 (of which 183 units were
manufactured, 150 in Midland and 33 in Wetzlar) which delivered a lot of grain
on enlarging beyond 20 x 28 cm size, as well as diminishing the sharpness and
contrast, something that has utterly been fixed by the digital era, which has
made possible the development of the key factor for the attainment of such a yearned after goal: the design and manufacture of incredible digital sensors that in spite
of their small or very small size, include a staggering technology enabling to
get great image quality and the chance of creating top quality enlargements up to 50 x 70 cm and even more on
photographic paper.

While all of
this happened and after the advent of the Leica X1, X2 and X Vario with
Vario-Elmar 18-46 mm f/3.5-6.4 ASPH (cameras featuring very good image quality and APS-C
format digital sensor but limited regarding versatility on not sporting a
bayonet for coupling interchangeable lenses), the photographic market has
greatly been on tenterhooks, since it was fair to assume that Leica (after all
the pioneer in the manufacture of CSC mirrorless cameras featuring a very small
size and a comprehensive system of interchangeable lenses and accessories since
the beginning of thirties of XX Century) would create a mirrorless digital
camera without rangefinder and able to be coupled to interchangeable lenses
either for full frame or APS-C format (Leica has already explained for the
recent years that it isn´t interested in the production of Micro Four Thirds
cameras, the Leica T is not a Panasonic camera at all, but Made in Germany
at the new factory in Wetzlar and the lenses with which it has been introduced
are Leica ones made in Japan with German optical glasses of the highest
performance, according to exceedingly stringent specifications and tolerances
set up by Leica, and they haven´t been made by Panasonic).

And among the
feasible formats (either full frame or APS-C), Leica has opted for the APS-C
15.7 x 23.6 mm digital sensor lacking anti-aliasing filter with this new Leica
T (Typ 701) camera whose highly reduced dimensions and weight are 134 x 69 x 33
mm and 384 g battery included, with which the year of its Centenary it adds a
new photographic system to its already wide array of digital products.

FOLLOWING THE
TRAIL OF OSKAR BARNACK AND STEVE JOBS

To my humble
understanding, Leica has made a master move with the design, manufacture and
presentation of the APS-C format
mirrorless CSC Leica T (Typ 701), which hoards very significant attributes far exceeding its very small size and weight and the
superb image quality it achieves through the synergy between its Sony CMOS
APS-C 16.3 megapixel sensor (the same included inside the Leica Vario X2,
though the image DSP is new) and its Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH lens (equivalent to a 35
mm f/2 in 24 x 36 mm format, the streeter objective par excellence) together
with the also unveiled Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH professional zoom and two likewise professional further zooms for this camera which will be introduced
during the next Photokina 2014):

a) Its gorgeous
minimalist design, oozing class and elegance on all four sides,

with lines
being pervaded by Oskar Barnack conceptual DNA and a more than remarkable
resemblance with the front area, lateral borders and top zone of the Leica Ur made by him in 1914.This is absolutely amazing and above all fascinating, 100 years after the
creation of the the Leica Ur, and confirms once
again the immense talent, resourcefulness and vision of a genius called Oskar Barnack, who anticipated ten years to some Bauhaus approaches and shapes and a hundred
years to the design of cameras like the Sony RX1 full frame (making up a
synthesis between on one hand the contours of the Leica UR 1914, the Leica ´0´
from 1923-24, the Leicaflex 18 x 24 mm designed by Helmut Müller in 1962 and
the Leica-H 18 x 24 mm - of which two prototypes were made in 1965 – designed
by Adam Wagner in 1964, and on the other hand the top area of the 24 x
36 mm format mythical Nippon Kogaku Tokyo rangefinder cameras from fifties) or
this Leica T (Typ 701).

b) An exceptional
building and qualitative level, with massive use of noble metal, having been
chosen a sturdy aluminum billet

from which the camera body shape is created by
means of abundant and very accurate milling done by state-of-the-art high
performance CNC machines which treat the metal following an electronic exact
path with numeric control.

with the
added benefit of an unusual resistance to the elapse of time and the hard
professional use as to possible scratches, all kind of stains, protection of
the inner electronic components, etc.

c) The back area of
the camera doesn´t feature any button, since every function is
controlled by the user through the 3.7 inch and 1,3 megapíxel LCD large
touchscreen being so sharp and brilliant that the photographer can see it under
the sun light.

It seems clear
that the inception of the Leica T (Typ 701) is a relevant global knowledgeable
decision from a conceptual, design, general appearance and user interface
viewpoint, with a back area in the shape of a tactile touchscreen in the purest
iPhone style, without any buttons, dials or controls whatsoever.

And it isn´t by
chance.

As a matter of
fact, the genius Steve Jobs commented different times that the great beauty of
lines and rounded contours of the old screwmount Leicas exerted a noticeable
influence in the design of his MacBooks and iPhones.

And this is a
significant distinctive trait of the new Leica T, in which both the mythical
German photographic firm and the Audi Team Design (which also took part in the
creation of the Leica M9 Titanium) have scored a hit, with remarkable levels of
adaptation to the time being, refinement and breakthrough technology inspired
by Steve Job´s creative and functionality imprint, managing to integrate in
this camera a number of sides inherent to high end consumer electronics in full
synergy with other exceedingly classical features of the camera and whose roots
date back to the second decade of XX Century.

As often happens
when Leica presents a new product, some voices have already expressed their
opinion that ´ The Leica T isn´t more than a camera for wealthy capricious
persons and the only thing it provides is the red dot and being seen with it ´.

In my humble
understanding, reality is very different.

The Leica T is a
very small great camera that maybe doesn´t offer a huge number of novelties in
the scope of CSC mirrorless cameras featuring APS-C or Micro Four Thirds sensors (in which competence
is fierce and there are a lot of firms that have made and go on making
excellent models with increasingly better performance), but the ones it
provides are indeed meaningful enough to make a difference:

- Its very well
thought through and advanced touchscreen user interface in the purest iPhone
style, enabling the very easy and fast communication between the photographer
and the various inner electronic devices activating the different camera
functions.

- The superb
mechanical unibody building of the camera, made from a milled special aluminium
solid billet, which provides the body with an impressive structural strength
and resistance (in spite of the fact that of its 384 g only 94 correspond to
its framework of that metal).

- A professional
Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH (equivalent to a 28-85 mm in 24 x 36 mm
format) that becomes the new benchmark in both resolving power and contrast
within the sphere of CSC mirrorless cameras sporting smaller than full frame 24
x 36 mm format sensors, as well as boasting very good mechanical quality and being
manufactured in metal.

- A Summicron-T 23
mm f/2 ASPH lens (equivalent to a 35 mm f/2 prime in 24 x 36 mm format)
featuring 9 elements in 6 groups -two of them being top-notch quality
aspherical ones- designed for the 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS APS-C digital sensor and which
delivers a splendid image quality, even superior to the very good Fujinon XF 23
mm f/1.4R featuring 11 elements (one of them being an aspherical one) in 8
groups of the Fuji X-Pro 1 between f/2 and f/5.6, which turns it into the new yardstick as to resolving power and contrast in center, borders and corners
among the lenses equivalent to 35 mm existing in this field of CSC mirrorless
cameras without rangefinder including under 24 x 36 mm size sensors.

- The possibility
of coupling through adapter the vast assortment of reference-class Leica M
lenses (specially the aspherical ones which due to their impressive optical excellence only need very scarce quantity of software correction).

- A 16 GB internal
memory together with the slot for SD cards.

FUNCTIONALITY
AND USABILITY ABOVE ALL

Therefore, this
camera has first and foremost been designed and manufactured to work with it
and get pictures.

That´s its main aim
and the most important purpose for which it has been conceived, since
currently a product basing its selling chances only on its design and beauty of
lines over its usefulness (however conceptually trend setting it may be,
exquisite its shapes and details and fairly high the quality of materials used
in its making) would be little short of doomed to failure, even more in the
field of APS-C and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless rangefinderless, in which competition is huge and
the aforementioned brands have already in the market some very high level
cameras, full-fledged flagships featuring very advanced technology along with
professional fixed lenses and zooms delivering excellent image quality, in my
opinion particularly standing out the Fuji X-Pro 1, the Fuji X-T1 and the Olympus
OM-D E-M1.

Though it
doesn´t seem that Leica wishes to enter into direct competition with those firms
respected by the German concern, but rather trying to create a new product
niche (the price of approximately 3,000 euros of camera body + professional
fixed lens or zoom is evidently high, albeit what is offered in exchange is
very interesting, innovative and different), Leica has put its utmost effort,
knowledge and experience in the design and manufacture of two utterly
professional autofocus lenses: the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH (equivalent to a 35 mm f/2 in full frame format) and the Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH
(equivalent to a 28-85 mm f/3.5-5.6 in 24 x 36 mm format) which can be chosen
to be attached to the Leica T and whose image quality is so high that Leica
confirms once more its hierarchy in the optical domain, this time within the APS-C and Micro Four Thirds mirrorless sector, although it´s apparent that the
excellent top quality AF primes and zooms made at the moment above all by Fuji,
Olympus and Panasonic offer such an image quality that it is more than enough
for any professional assignment, as well as sporting a quicker AF than the
Leica T-System of Lenses and a more advanced electronics.

The Leica T (Typ
701) is a very capable camera, specially in streeter and travel photography,
its two optimal contexts for creation of images, though it can also be successfully used in other genres like landscapes, portraits, etc, thanks to its great
versatility and ability to be coupled to either professional top quality AF
primes with different focal lengths and luminosities or professional AF zooms
of the Leica-T system, they all providing top-notch optical and mechanical
excellence, with the added bonus that albeit the lenses don´t feature image
stabilizer, the photographer can take great advantage of the very small size
and weight of the camera (only 384 g battery included) to shoot handheld
without any trepidation at very low shutter speeds up to 1/8 sec, specially if it is used
with the accessory electronic viewfinder Visoflex and the camera very near the
face.

PROFESSIONAL
FIXED LENSES AND ZOOMS

Leica has made a
great bet with the introduction of its new Leica T (Typ 710) with which it has
given birth to its T-System of cameras, lenses and accessories, in the nowadays
probably most disputed territory in the photographic market: the CSC mirrorless
rangefinderless, in which a number of firms have already both in APS-C and Micro Four Thirds formats the previously quoted very high level quality
cameras, featuring a comprehensive range of functions and top quality lenses and
zooms.

To name only
three examples, the Fuji X-T1, the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the Panasonic GH-4 are
cameras sporting forefront electronic technology, with highly developed sensors
and very good professional fixed lenses and zooms, besides providing a very
fast AF speed, outstanding levels of compactness and a very interesting quality
/ price ratio.

In such a
context in which some already very grounded firms in the mirrorless APS-C and
Micro Four Thirds sector have acquired a great know-how, the Wetzlar firm had
to match its new Leica T with wholly professional primes and zooms able to synergize
with its excellent 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS APS-C sensor and the new image DSP
featured by the camera.

And it has managed to do it.

Obviously, Leica
huge experience in the design and manufacture of M lenses for 24 x 36 mm format
boasting an amazing degree of miniaturization, exceedingly small weight and
dimensions if we bear in mind the sensor big size (it´s much more difficult and
expensive to make very little and light optically and mechanically second to
none lenses featuring an exceedingly reduced diameter of front lens and very low weight for large
sensors than for small or very small ones - not to say the assembling of the
metallic barrels and focusing helicoids holding their elements and optical
groups - like the Elmar-M 21 mm f/3.4 ASPH, the Summilux-M 24 mm f/1.4 ASPH, the
Elmar-M 24 mm f/3.8 ASPH, the Summicron-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH and many others, along
with the quantum leap in digital medium format which has meant the development
of S-System lenses for the Leica S2 - the most perfect ones ever made together with
the Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH for full frame- ) provide the Wetzlar
photographic firm with a fundamental previous background and expertise when it
comes to tackling any possible downscaling of optical and mechanical concepts
aimed at the manufacture of professional primes and zooms for smaller than full
frame sensors, in this case for a 16.3 megapixel digital CMOS APS-C sensor made
by Sony.

In this regard,

the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH featuring 9 elements (two of them being
aspherical ones) in 6 groups and a weight of 154 g is superb and delivers a splendid image quality
even at full aperture and at the nearest focusing distances, with a
praiseworthy performance uniformity between f/2 and f/8 turning it into the new
benchmark in resolving power and contrast of the mirrorless APS-C and Micro
Four Thirds cameras sector as to this type of fixed lenses equivalent to a 35
mm prime in 24 x 36 mm format.

Both its exceptional optical performance in center, borders and corners and the homogeneity of results obtained on the whole image surface place it from a
qualitative viewpoint between Walter Mandler´s Summicron-M 50 mm f/2
versions 4 and 5 and Peter Karbe´s Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH, which is an
unprecedented optical exploit, because manufacturing a 23 mm f/2 ASPH lens for
APS-C format equivalent to a 35 mm f/2 in 24 x 36 mm format and that it
delivers an image quality approaching the best Leica M full frame 50 mm lenses is
something posing immense difficulties, since the 24 x 36 mm sensor of a digital
Leica M has a 864 mm2 surface with a diagonal of 43.3 mm, while the Sony CMOS
APS-C sensor featured by the Leica T has a 370 mm2 surface and a 28.4 mm
diagonal.

And there are
powerful reasons for it, because the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH is equivalent
to a 35 mm f/2 in full format, id est, the photojournalist, reportage, streeter
and travel lens par excellence.

On the other
hand, the performance of the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH shooting handheld
outdoors or indoor under low or very low luminous conditions, daytime or at
night, is simply superb and the reference-class lens in this kind of dim
available light photographic environments among the equivalent to 35 mm objectives
within the mirrorless CSC scope with smaller than full frame sensors.

It also stands
out the fact that spherical aberration, field curvature and astigmatism often
inherent to a greater or lesser extent to very luminous lenses, have been reduced to
negligible levels between f/2 and f/8, with such a high level of optical
perfection that there isn´t any presence of astigmatism between the center and
corners of the image, with a really commendable uniformity of exceptional
contrast and resolution on the entire surface of the frame.

Nevertheless,
the Fuji XF 23 mm f/1.4R featuring 11 elements in 8 groups (one of them being
aspherical) and a weight of 300 g, aside from being very good and getting an
excellent image quality, beats the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH in ability to
beget selective focusing, because of its larger maximum aperture.

Bearing in mind
the 9 elements (two of them aspherical) in 6 groups configuration shown by this
Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH, a highly laudable miniaturization and reduction of
weight (only 154 g) has been attained.

On the other
hand, unlike the manual focusing Leica M wideangle lenses for full frame, a
breed apart in themselves because of the brutally high opto-mechanical
qualitative parameters with which they´re designed and manufactured (enabling
them to synergize with the current full frame and APS-C sensors and the ones
that could appear in future and are much more difficult and expensive to build
due to the larger size of the 24 x 36 mm sensor), the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH
autofocus has also been formulated and built following optical and mechanical
criterions of maximum self-imposed standards of excellence, but specifically
optimized for the 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS of the Leica T, with which a
perfect symbiosis sensor + lens + image DSP has been fulfilled, resulting in the
images produced by this dream lens.

As to the
Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH professional zoom (equivalent to a 28-85
mm f/3.5-5.6 in full frame),

it´s true that it could have been more luminous,
but a constant widest aperture of f/2.8 would have considerably increased its
dimensions and weight, compromising the great innate compactness of the Leica T
concept. And of course, it would have been larger, heavier and the price tag
much steeper.

Even somebody could
think that taking into account its discreet luminosity, this is a normal or
simply good zoom lens.

But the
Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH zoom features such a level of mechanic construction and above all such high
resolving power and contrast that turn it into the new benchmark both in
mechanic engineering and very specially in image quality among the standard
variable focal length zooms presently available in the CSC mirrorless APS-C and
Micro Four Thirds sector, above all under normal daylight conditions, both
outdoor and indoor.

The Vario-Elmar-T
18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH is a small and light zoom (it only weighs 256 g) for
the range of focal lengths it covers, though inevitably, because of the great
miniaturization of the Leica T body and the optical scheme intrinsic to a zoom
featuring more elements and optical groups than a fixed lens, it is larger than
the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH, albeit differences in size are not excessive at all, and it is smaller than most zoom lenses featuring f/3.5-5.6 luminosities of this sector made by different firms.

Coupled to the camera it makes up a very balanced combo resulting in outstanding compactness and remarkable convenience to use, keeping the beauty of lines and tiny dimensions of
the Leica-T System concept, with an optical formula of 10 elements in 7 groups
(four of them top level aspherical ones with the standard of huge accuracy Leica does
them) which is a statement of intent and delivers a superb image quality between f/3.5 and f/11 on its
entire range, with the exception of the
extreme wideangle 18 mm in which the optical performance falls a bit, something
inevitable in the design of high performance zoom lenses, since it is
impossible to optimize a zoom for each and every one of its focal lengths.

The designer
must choose to specially foster the wideangle, middle or tele stretch of the
zoom (having opted in the Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/2 ASPH for the zone between
35 and 56 mm), striving after reducing as much as possible the differences in
image quality between the wideangle and tele extremes, which has greatly been achieved in this Vario-Elmar-T 18 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH, that likewise exhibits a
first-rate mechanic building for the movement of the optical elements, with an
accuracy of assembling of them comparable to the static mounting of a prime
(featuring fewer elements and optical groups), so its design complexity, manual
craftsmanship assembling guidelines by highly specialized employees and use of
nothing less than four high end aspherical surfaces, bring about a steep manufacturing cost, so in my viewpoint the price of 1,400 euros
is high but not exorbiting considering its virtues and the customary
Leica prices with lenses of this level, along with the fact that it is entirely made in metal, a much pricier material than polycarbonates or plastics.

With this
Vario-Elmar-T 18 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH Leica has managed to create a rather compact
and versatile professional standard zoom covering the most frequently used focal lengths
between 28 and 85 mm, without being bound to change of lens and displaying a resolving power and contrast along its whole range from wideangle to tele typical in first-rate prime lenses, though regarding microcontrast, bokeh and performance
under dim light conditions, it is inferior to the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH
(equivalent to a 35 mm f/2 in 24 x 36 mm format), albeit the excellent
professional image quality generated by the 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS APS-C Sony
from ISO 100 up to ISO 3200 and the smoothness of triggering of the Leica T
shutter release button enable it to defend very well shooting hand and wrist
between both sensitivities in most photographic contexts that could come up,
unless they´re dimly or very dimly lit locations, environments where due to its relatively low luminosity, the AF has more difficulties to nail the focus on every shot, something minimized on shooting subjects from near distances by the AF assisting infrared beam (being emitted from the little black round window placed on top right of the front area of the camera), which is efficient fighting against any possible AF hunting in low light conditions shooting handheld up to around 4.5 meters.

Whatever it may
be, and whilst acknowledging that the manufacturing in a milled aluminium
unibody, the beauty of lines, the futurist and simultaneously classic appearance inspired by the
deepest roots of Leica and the very well devised back touchscreen working as a
smartphone are certainly noteworthy traits of the Leica T (Typ 701), in my
standpoint this Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH also makes a difference, providing high level
prime quality of image along its whole range of focal lengths and at every diaphragm, including the shortest focusing distances, except at its 18 mm extreme wideangle where performance drops slightly, so taking
into account the very small size and weight of the binomium Leica T +
Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH, the very good behavior of the Sony CMOS
APS-C sensor at low, medium and high sensitivities up to ISO 3200 and the great
speed and efficiency of the new image DSP, in spite of lacking any image
stabilizer, this fully professional zoom could only be sometimes operationally limited or showing a bit erratic AF when shooting handheld in low or very low luminosity environments where the aforementioned likewise professional
zooms made by Fuji, Olympus, Panasonic and Samsung, sporting larger maximum
aperture in their focal ranges and image stabilizers, are evidently a better
choice.

POSSIBILITY OF
USING THE LEICA M LENSES

The Leica T is
also able to use the very comprehensive assortment of manual focusing Leica M lenses
through a special adapter

Leica M-Adapter
T which detects the 6-bit coding of Leica M lenses featuring aspherical
surfaces and other older ones that though not being so perfect, yield a beautiful
and distinctive vintage aesthetics of image.

The Leica T peerless
robustness in the smaller than full frame 24 x 36 mm sensor mirrorless CSC
sector, its very reduced dimensions of 134 x 69 x 33 mm and weight of 384 g (very
similar to the very small CSC mirrorless full frame with rangefinder Leica II
from 1932 -133 x 67 x 33 mm and 406 g-) and the chance of connecting the Leica
M lenses enhance significantly the CSC mirrorless APS-C Leica T-System, always
understanding that the key factor to get a good picture will be the person behind the camera and the image itself will always be over its technical
aspects.

VERY SLOW STARTING-UP TIMEThe Leica T needs approximately 3 seconds to elapse from the moment you turn the power switch from "off " to "on", in my opinion too much time and it should be fixed as soon as possible by means of firmware or any technological resource that could be used by Leica to achieve that aim.

As well as delivering superb levels of sharpness, contrast and colour rendition, the DNG RAW archives generated by the Leica T are of very high quality and if necessary enable the photographer to recover detail aplenty in highlights and shadows, and make possible a wide margin of maneouver applying focusing mask in postproduction without image degradation.The DNG RAW
archives generated by the Leica T are of very high quality and enable the
photographer to recover detail aplenty in highlights and shadows, as well as
delivering superb levels of sharpness, contrast and colour rendition.

The image of
these DNG archives is special and shows a filmic appearance, very in the Leica
tradition. We enter here in subjective and personal preferences terrain.

In my opinion,
they are very real and vivid colours with which the Leica T follow in the wake
of the Kodachrome film, for reality is not so contrasty and chromatically
saturated as other kinds of image more related with the Fuji Velvia emulsion
and with which the aim is to get a great saturation of colours and very high
contrast impacting as much as possible, a perfectly valid route liked by many
people, above all in the sphere of landscape photography.

But in my
opinion, Leica opts for following the trail of the maximum possible realism in
the reproduction of colours, the very faithful capturing of lavish detail and
the enhancement of the visual sensation of sharpness as fundamental sides of
the type of image it wishes to obtain.

Accordingly, the
performance of the new image DSP of the Leica T is very high and makes up an exceedingly
efficient trio with the excellent 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS APS-C and the very
high resolution (both the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH and the Vario-Elmar-T
18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6) which in very satisfactory synergy with them get the most
of their optical projection.

The upshot of it
all is that Leica has made a toilsome effort to attain with the DNG RAW
archives of its Leica T camera a kind of image as much similar as possible to
the Leicalike one that along with a number of other seminal factors has been
one of its main hallmarks throughout its history.

And it has made
it, getting a very filmic sort of image, nothing to do with image appearances
often resembling porcelain or plastic.

VISOFLEX TYPE
020

Accessory 2.36 electronic
Visoflex viewfinder boasting a very high resolution of 2.36 megapixels,
excellent dioptric adjustment and a GPS.It stands out because of its new method of
being attached to the camera through connections on the internal border of the
hot shoe placed on top of the camera.

It also sports
an ocular sensor, and its industrial design profile matches well the gorgeous
beauty of lines of the camera.

On the other
hand, its swivelling function up to 90º makes it particularly
useful to shoot from different unusual angles, above all turned upwards, which
enables the photographer to look vertically through the viewfinder and get
pictures with utmost levels of discretion, holding the camera at waist level.

In addition, it
features a built-in Wi-Fi interacting with the new Leica iOS applications for
camera wireless remote control and transmission of images.

In symbiosis
with the Leica T it considerably fosters the possibilities of making
photographs handheld at very low shutter speeds up to 1/8 sec, thanks to the
exceedingly reduced dimensions and weight of the camera, its great balance of
masses and the very small size of both the Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH prime and
the Vario-Elmar-T 18-56 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH zoom lens.

Evidently, it´d have been even better to provide the Leica T with a built-in electronic
or hybrid viewfinder, a side in which three great professional cameras: the Fuji XT-1 (with its superb high
resolution and large size EVF), the Fuji X-Pro 1 (with its excellent
opto-electronic hybrid viewfinder) and the Olympus OM-D E-M1 (with its also top
quality electronic viewfinder featuring praiseworthy levels of brilliance and
sharpness) are the benchmarks of the CSC mirrorless and rangefinderless sector
of cameras sporting APS-C and Micro Four Thirds sensors.

Anyway, the EVF
Visoflex Typ 020 (whose handling is a a cinch) makes up with the Leica T a
highly efficient duo exuding awesome appearance, keeping very significant
levels of compactness and above all delivering a great quality of observation
to the photographer from every conceivable angle.

RANGE OF
SENSITIVITIES BETWEEN ISO 100 AND ISO 12500

The Leica T
offers a choice of sensitivities between ISO 100 and ISO 12500, obtaining a
great professional image quality up to ISO 3200 (albeit at ISO 3200 there´s a bit of visible noise, compensated by the admirable sharpness of the DNG RAW archives), as a result of the very satisfactory synergy of the 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS APS-C sensor with both the Summicron-T 23
mm f/2 ASPH and the Vario-Elmar-T 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH, along with the new image DSP.

Rather than striving
after getting operative stratospherically high isos without noise, Leica gives top priority to the obtention of the
purest feasible images, so unlike what is currently usual, the Leica T doesn´t
feature any in camera noise reduction software that though eliminates the grain
to higher or lesser degree, often degrades nuances in high key and low key
areas. Hence that the Leica T shows a very slight quantity of visible noise at
ISO 1600 and at ISO 3200 it can be appreciated a bit more. But the association of this philosophy with the great quality of the DNG RAW archives of the camera
enables a remarkable preservation of textures and acutance, so the very
slight presence of noise at both isos is compensated, and what´s even more
important: a good level of detail in lights and shadows is guaranteed. On the other hand, it is interesting to see that the Leica T begins with a sensitivity of ISO 100
instead of ISO 200 (which is the most common trend) with the aim of boosting
the use of selective focusing at the widest apertures with the most luminous
lenses of the T-System (both the just presented Summicron-T 23 mm f/2 ASPH and
the ones that will appear in future), controlling the depth of field as a
pivotal side in the field of creative photography, highlighting the focused
subjects with respect to the out of focus backgrounds and getting the most of
the characteristic beautiful bokeh of the f/2, f/1.4 and 0.95 Leica lenses.

The
aforementioned range of sensitivities of the Leica T is more than enough to
successfully solve the very wide range of photographic situations this camera
is able to deal with, thanks to its image quality, great ease of handling and
conspicuously reduced dimensions and weight.

PAINSTAKING
ATTENTION EVEN TO THE MINUTEST DETAILS

The Leica T is
among other many sides a compendium of small details which have thoroughly been
taken care of.

The camera feels
metallic and sturdy in hands, despite its very little size, weight and
dimensions, with an exquisite finishing in aluminium polished for 45 minutes
and generating an indescribable smoothness of touch and robustness wherever
it´s grabbed.

There isn´t any
irregular area or imperfection, because this professional photographic tool is
to great extent a handcrafted product manufactured with a lot of hours of
strenuous effort, according to the highest level of miniaturized engineering.

Such a simultaneously
functional prowess is applied even to the exotic and original locking contrivance
for the transport strap,

There aren´t any
protruding lugs for carrying straps that could compromise the hugely attractive
design of the camera, and instead of them there are two little circular sockets
for the straps which are integrated and located on the upper area of each one
of the lateral borders of the aluminium Unibody of the Leica T, above the
microphones (as can be seen in the image on the left), while after pressing
with a tiny key designed for such effect the very small hole just under the cavity
in which the locking socket is, the stainless-steel shaft at the extreme of
the carrying strap must be pushed into the hole placed in the middle of the cavity (as can be seen in the image on
the right) until click is heard.

Leica has had an experience of almost seventy years in the design and making of lugs and locking systems for the transport straps of its CSC mirrorless cameras since thirties. In the beginning, the lugs were made in brass which was either chromed or black lacquered, but the development of highly luminous Leica M lenses from early fifties brought about the manufacturing start of much more resistant and durable stainless-steel lugs which were connected to a number of models of straps by means of different semicircular stainless-steel attachment rings, which meant an extra production cost, in such a way that it was necessary to set up design teams devoted to this task, in which there were prominent experts like H.J.Uellenberg, who developed from 1977 to late nineties new models of carrying straps made of synthetic fabrics featuring new metallic coupling rings and Ernst Rühl, who from late eighties modified the shape of the stainless-steel rings of the carrying straps in such a way that they greatly secured the clamping to the lugs by means of its combination with small plastic sheaths conceived by him. But with this smart and sophisticated locking system without lugs for its transport straps the new Leica T (Typ 701) has taken a giant stride forward in this scope.featuring a
special highly resistant and durable stainless-steel tip that must be inserted (after
pressing with a tiny Leica key on the small hole located just below, which
draws the metallic shaft of the socket working as a cover in case you don´t
want to use any carrying strap) in a hole inside the cavity milled on
the upper area of each one of the lateral sides of the camera and makes possible
its transport hanging from the neck or shoulder with utter reliability.

On the other
hand, the right top zone of the camera

The two fluted rounded dials - located behind the on/off button and the small one aimed at the video recording- enable the photographer to choose the sutter speed and diaphragm.

is the only one in
which there are control dials (specifically two grooved big ones,
inserted in two round gaps milled in the aluminium body and sporting openings on their backs to be handled by the photographer), a small button with a red dot in its center, just in front of the right big dial, and whose mission is to start the HD video recording and a larger on /
off button just on its left.

The mechanizing
of every one of these components is simply gorgeous, as happens with the flash
cover, located a bit on the left, sporting an elongated shape with bends in its
extremes and wholly integrated on the surface, with uncommon elegance and
subtleness.

And regarding
the receptacle for the battery, it´s also made in aluminium and seamlessly
forming a part of the camera body, sporting a special mechanism preventing it
from falling to the ground if its holding door opens inadvertently.

QUICK AND HIGHLY
ACCURATE AUTOFOCUS

The Leica T is
the first mirrorless APS-C Leica camera featuring specific bayonet with ability
to be coupled to AF interchangeable lenses.

It´s a contrast
detection autofocus, rather quick, silent and exceedingly accurate, more than
enough to fulfill its photographic tasks with very high levels of reliability
and consistency of results.

Nevertheless, it´s
far from reaching the lightning AF speed of the Olympus OM-D E-M1 (the current
world benchmark in this aspect, with its Dual Fast AF System boasting exceedingly
advanced electronic technology, which can use both contrast detection AF and 37
AF points through phase detection taking advantage of pixels devoted to it and
located in the image sensor itself, according to the chosen focusing mode and
the attached lens), the Fuji X-T1 (sporting a likewise exceedingly quick and hugely
accurate AF, specially in
synergy with the internal focusing LM OIS zoom lenses, as well as providing a
continuous autofocus of 9 central AF points – interacting with the area of
phase detection of the sensor- which attains an impressive accuracy while
shooting in high speed burst mode) or the Panasonic GH4 boasting a 49 areas AF
enabling the user to personalize the most interesting areas for him to use and
features DFD technology analyzing the scene contrast in two out of focus points
to faster help calculate the correct focusing point and is able to focus static
subjects in 0.007 seconds.

But it doesn´t
present any problem for the Leica T, which evidently is not a camera optimized
for the making of sports photography, high speed action, nature pictures with
animals running, etc, which doesn´t mean that an experienced photographer
couldn´t defend well with it in such contexts.

The Leica T contrast
detection AF isn´t obviously as swift as the one featured by the aforementioned
cameras from Fuji, Olympus and Panasonic, but it´s fast enough to do its job
with competence, since what has been sought above all is the utmost feasible AF
accuracy and reliability, and it achieves it in a very high percentage of situations, with eight different types of AF being available: Center, Multi Area, Selective Single Point,
Continuous (up to five frame per second), Single, Touch, Face Detection and
Live View.

VERY DISCREET
SHUTTER

Shutter release
button of the Leica T. On pressing it, the shutter triggering is generated with
remarkable smoothness and rather abated noise. Leica engineers have made a
great effort in this regard, enhanced by the very silent AF of the professional
primes and zooms of the T-System alike.

It´s a
horizontal travel focal plane shutter begetting very low sound intensity when
shooting, clearly outperforming in this side to dslr professional full frame
and entry-level and semiprofessional APS-C dslr cameras.

Logically, it
doesn´t reach the exceedingly low noise level, almost imperceptible, of the mechanically
controlled horizontal travel rubberized cloth focal plane shutters of the
screwmount LTM39 analog full frame Leica cameras from twenties, forties, fifties and early
sixties (still nowadays the benchmark as to this aspect and which enabled Peter
Magubane to get indoor pictures in South Africa with his CSC mirrorless full
frame Leica IIIG stuck into a piece of bread without been detected) or the one
brought about by the analog CSC mirrorless full frame Leica M cameras
manufactured since 1954 (whose level of mechanical excellence in driving by
means of springs, control cams and gear trains operating as delay devices
creating the shutter speeds, and the vibrationless working attained by Ludwig
Leitz, Willi Stein and Friedrich Gath in early fifties and progressively
improved from late seventies by Otto Domes and Peter Loseries hasn´t been
surpassed to date) or the one featured by the digital CSC full frame Leica M
cameras produced from 2009.But the Leica T shutter release smoothness and very
low noise are laudable and instrumental for attaining discretion on making
photographs, particularly in the travel and streeter sphere.

FULL HD VIDEO
RECORDING

The Leica T
enables two modes of video recording in MP4 format:

- Full HD 1920 x
1080p.

- HD 1280 x 720p.

Both at 30
frames/second, with stereo sound recording.

In spite of the
outstanding precision and steadiness of results of the AF featured by the
lenses of the Leica T-System, the best choice – as always happens in the field
of professional video recording- is to use manual focusing.

EXCEEDINGLY SLIM
PHOTOGRAPHIC TOOL EXUDING TIMELESS ELEGANCE

The mirrorless
CSC APS-C Leica T (Typ 701) boasts a very reduced thickness of only 33 mm,
identical to the one sported by the mirrorless CSC 24 x 36 mm format Leica II
(Model D) from 1932 designed by the genius Oskar Barnack, whose screwmount
models were and go on being the smallest full frame cameras ever made having the
possibility of coupling interchangeable lenses and for many experts the most
beautiful cameras in history, a prodigy of miniaturization, opto-mechanical
engineering and manufacture with noble metals. And the Leica T follows in that
wake,

SUITABLE FOR
BEGINNERS, ADVANCED AMATEURS AND PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS

The Leica T (Typ
701) offers a further singularity certainly unique among the professional
cameras featuring this superb level of mechanical building, use of first-class
materials and top-drawer primes and zoom lenses both in this CSC mirrorless
without rangefinder domain and the rest of sectors and formats (full frame 24 x
36 mm, medium format and large format): its full adaptability to all kind of
users, whether they´re persons starting in photography, advanced connoisseurs
or professionals with a lot of years of experience.

And it is feasible thanks to the huge potential of its very well devised user interface,
making possible the configuration at will of the large touchscreen (3.9 inches
and great image quality), with an exceedingly comprehensive variety of options
encompassing from the easiest ones for people beginning in photography to the
most complex ones for pros, because it is by far the photographic camera made
hitherto enabling a greater degree of personalization by the photographer,
which facilitates very much its handling and works like a high end Smartphone
to a great extent.

NEW LARGE
DIAMETER T-SYSTEM MOUNT

As a consequence
of the great personality of the just presented Leica T (Typ 701) camera,
attention has been mainly paid to its very small size, its attractive and
simultaneously futurist and classic design, the quality of the materials and
craftsmanship manufacturing standards used in its production, the high grade of
miniaturization of the fixed lens and standard zoom with which it has been
introduced, etc.

But there´s
another pivotal side of this camera meaning a both synchronic and diachronic
turning point in practice: the new large size Leica T-System bayonet, fruit of a
very painstaking previous study of three years and which is arguably one of the
most decisive breakthroughs made by Leica throughout its history along with the
mythical four component Leica M System bayonet for interchangeable lenses
designed by Hugo Wehrenfenning, patented in 1950 and optimized for the maximum
light quantity coming from the optical system of the lenses to arrive at the image
corners, activating the corresponding luminous frame in the viewfinder of the
camera.

Such Leica M
bayonet (whose first CSC mirrorless full frame camera was the Leica M3) has been and
goes on being, 64 years after its design, one of the most important
technological achievements in the whole history of photography, in flawless
synergy with a high precision rangefinder (whose production cost is rather
steep - since it´s a masterpiece of engineering made up by 107 components-, approximately
equivalent to the price of a CSC APS-C or Micro Four Thirds camera +
professional lens or zoom), it all well gounded on the keynotes of integrated rangefinder
and the very deep studies on the effect of viewfinder magnification on the
effective measuring base developed by Willi Stein, Ludwig Leitz, Willi Keiner,
Heinrich Schneider, Robert Eckhard and Erich Mandler and a new Leica M focal
plane shutter product of 20 years of research carried out by the genius of
miniaturized mechanics Ludwig Leitz (who as early as 1934 patented the basic
concept with non rotating dial of shutter speeds and an improvement of its
mechanism in 1936 with Willi Stein), complemented with the supervision and some
ideas by Friedrich Gath and Willi Stein developed from 1950.

With all of this
previous background, it´s no wonder that the new Leica T-System bayonet

is
giving rise to so high levels of expectations, in addition to faturing some conceptual
affinities with the Leica M bayonet.

As a matter of
fact, in the same way as Hugo Wehrenfenning had the brainstorm of reducing 1 mm
the flange to film distance of the Leica M bayonet to enhance its versatility to the utmost and that
the LTM39 screwmount lenses of the firm could be used with it, the new Leica T
bayonet makes possible to use the extensive assortment of available Leica M
lenses through the special adapter
sporting 6-bit coding contacts, thanks to the extremely short distance between its flange and the 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS APS-C sensor.

BACK TO THE
FUTURE

Therefore, the
new T-System is born from the merging between the Leica optical, mechanical and
beauty of lines great tradition and the conceptual and intuitive philosophy of
the iPhone environment and its highly advanced digital interface, it all in
symbiosis with an excellent 16.3 megapixel Sony CMOS APS-C boasting very high
performance and a new image DSP, without forgetting the fact that it has been
conceived for its use by both amateurs and professional photographers, thanks
to its great handling ease, and it inaugurates a new T mount.

Regarding the
price, a camera featuring this level of building construction and
opto-mechanical excellence, along with the availability of Leica professional
primes and zooms can´t be cheap any way, but it seems apparent that such as has
been explained by Stefan Daniel, Leica has made a strenuous effort to offer with
the Leica T (Typ 710) an interesting quality/price/durability/beauty of lines to
make it affordable to people wishing a kind of camera between the mirrorless
full frame with rangefinder M cameras (featuring a much higher price tag in
bodies and lenses) and the X series cameras, above all if we bear in mind that
the greatly manual manufacture of a very advanced and at the same time
minimalist camera like this, made of metal through milling from a solid
aluminium billet, means a very important design and production cost.